David Starr, driver of the No. 10 MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 races in his home state of Texas in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race this weekend. Starr drives for Ozona, Texas based Circle Bar Racing.

No. 10 MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 driver David Starr. (Ronda Greer Photo)

David Starr - No. 10 MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150
Both you and the team are racing in your home state this weekend. "Our International MaxxForce Diesel Ford team, we are always trying to do the best we can do. It doesn't matter if we are in Dover, Delaware, or Texas. But Texas is special to us because Tom Mitchell, our team owner, is from Texas and I live in Texas, myself, I'm from Texas. The race track at Texas Motor Speedway was always been a real special to me. Since it was opened, my family owns a driving school, the Team Texas High Performance Driving School and we've been based here at the Texas Motor Speedway and we kind of have a unique partnership with the race track. So, it's been a cool thing. They've helped my career early on when I was just getting involved in the truck series. They took me in and hooked me up with a couple of sponsors. It's a special place to me and it's just another race, but it's a really special place. If I had a magic wand and could say there was a particular place that I would like to win; I'd really like to win at home. I've been so close so many times and I've never been able to complete that goal. It is special because we have a lot of friends and family plus I think the biggest thing is that our owner lives in Texas. It would be special to them if we could put one of their F-150 trucks in victory lane here in their home state - that would be really cool."

This is the first year for Circle Bar Racing to have two trucks in the series. How does having a two-truck team benefit you as a driver? "You know it's the right thing to do. Having a teammate like Rick Crawford has just been incredible. I've known Rick for a long time. His ability on the race track is incredible; he's always a guy to you have to compete with to win and he runs up front week in and week out and has been for years. He's a tough competitor but a nice guy off the race track. To team-up with him and have a two-truck operation was really exciting for me, because I never had that. When you have a two-truck operation, when the equipment is the same, you can go to the race track and with the way NASCAR's testing policy is, we really don't get to go to many tracks and practice. We have to rely on data at the race track. NASCAR only gives us two hours of practice. Rick can go to the track and have a different set-up than I have and we can try different things. One of set-ups might work better for him than it does for me. Whatever we find that is the best, and then the other truck can plug it in. Whether my set-up is better, he'll plug it in his truck and whether is set-up is better, we'll plug it in my truck. So having a two-truck team really benefits us knowledge-wise because the way NASCAR has our testing policy. We can learn more quickly with two trucks where we can benefit both of us. Now since Circle Bar Racing did add a second team in 2007, the International MaxxForce No. 10 team, we've been trying to get up to speed and get up to the level my teammate Rick Crawford is at and it seems like since the start of the year that he hadn't benefited from the two-truck team. I think the 10 team has borrowed a lot of information from the 14 team but it seems like the past couple of weeks, Mansfield and Dover, that we've been sharing information a lot more. We've been given information that could be beneficial to them; it just took the MaxxForce team a while to get up to speed because we got put together so late. I feel that a two-truck team is the way of the future. If you look at all the other teams and they are very competitive and a lot of them are two-truck operations. So I believe it's going really to benefit Circle Bar Racing and both teams as time goes on."

Your crew chief, Dennis Connor, has 26 victories, the series' all-time crew chief leader, how has his experience helped the team? "He really helps a lot. He knows what it takes to win. He knows how to keep everybody's spirits high when you're not winning and the struggles you go through. And the struggles we've gone through this year, just as a new team trying to get everything but together. Today in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2007, if you're off a little bit, you're off a whole lot cause there are 30 teams that can win any weekend. Our International MaxxForce team has been struggling a little bit and it doesn't take much to be off a lot and he understands that - he's been there, done that. He knows how to keep everybody motivated. But having a two-truck team, I feel like I have two crew chiefs. Kevin 'Cowboy' Starland, that's his nickname, everybody calls him 'Cowboy', and it's a neat situation because I feel like I have two crew chiefs. It's just a wealth of knowledge we have at Circle Bar Racing and it will pay big dividends for us in the future. It's neat having two teams. When you're at the race track, I feel like I have two teams. I feel like the 14 is my team and the 10 is my team and I hope Rick and their team feels the same way. It's a really comfortable feeling to have a wealth of knowledge with all the personnel we have and especially the two crew chiefs, because like I said, I feel like I have two crew chiefs and I think that it is a huge benefit."